By Adem Kılıç, Political scientist
The Golan Heights, occupied by Israel in Syria, is a critical region located between the Yarmouk River and the Sea of Galilee, about 60 kilometers from Damascus.
The region was the decisive battleground in the 1967 Six-Day War and the 1973 Yom Kippur War between Arab states and Israel.
In these wars, the Arab states, and Syria in particular, inflicted heavy losses on Israel with attacks from this hill, and then, in 1974, a ceasefire agreement was signed in which the parties agreed to withdraw from the area and establish an 80-kilometer-long buffer zone.
However, Israel did not abide by this decision and announced its annexation of the Golan Heights in 1981.
For the past 40 years, Israel has maintained its occupation of the Golan Heights despite more than 20 United Nations resolutions and international law. In 2019, then US President Donald Trump recognized the region as a so-called Israeli territory and sought to legitimize the occupation.
The occupied Golan Heights provides Israel with observation points deep into Syria, especially due to its high altitude. Israel considers this region important not only for its military advantage but also for its fertile land and water resources. Israel meets about 30 percent of its clean water supply needs from here.
Israel also claims that Iran, which was Syria’s ally under Hafez al-Assad and the ousted Bashar al-Assad, is trying to establish a permanent foothold on the Syrian side of the border through Hezbollah in order to launch attacks against Israel.
What is Israel aiming at in Syria?
Since the fall of the Assad regime, Israel has launched more than 500 attacks on Syria and, despite United Nations resolutions and warnings, has launched a military intervention in the 80-square-kilometer buffer zone separating the two countries since 1974, going beyond the occupied Golan Heights.
Israel said the strikes targeted military facilities, including weapons depots, ammunition depots, airports, naval bases and research centers.
Israel has also deployed troops in the buffer zone along the Golan Heights separating Syria and Israel. This area was officially designated as a demilitarized zone as part of the UN ceasefire agreement signed in 1974.
Israel’s genocidal Prime Minister Netanyahu made it clear that he sees the collapse of the Assad regime as an opportunity to expand the occupation.
Just 24 hours after Assad fled to Russia, Netanyahu released a video from the top of Mount Hermon in the Golan Heights, in which he declared that the Syrian territory along the Golan Heights is “forever”. He claimed that it would remain part of Israel and that the 1974 border agreement was no longer valid.
On the same day, Benny Gantz, the leader of Israel’s National Unity Party, claimed that they had a “historic opportunity” and said that they should come up with a plan to divide the 80 square kilometers of settlements into a series of cantons that could be annexed to Israel.
Terrorist organizations and Israel
Until a new and strong government is established in Syria, it is unlikely that Israel will withdraw from these occupied areas.
When we look at Israel’s history, we see that Israel has never left any territory it has entered under the pretext of security and has tried to legitimize the occupation with so-called settlements in the areas it has entered, including the Golan Heights.
Therefore, in order to stop the occupation steps that Israel sees as a “historical opportunity”, a strong government must be quickly established in Syria and the Syrian army must be redesigned strongly and quickly.
Because we should know that in the next step, especially with the arrival of Trump, the terrorist organization PKK and its extensions in Syria, which will be completely orphaned, will play the role of useful mine donkeys for Israel’s occupation.
As a matter of fact, Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Saar’s description of the PKK and its extensions in Syria as “our natural allies” in his statement following the Syrian National Army’s operation in Manbij revealed the reality of this situation.
It seems that Israel is preparing to be the protector of the terrorist organization PKK’s plan to take land from the Assad administration by creating a so-called autonomous region in the new Syrian reality and to be a partner in another possible occupation.
Türkiye, through both President Erdoğan and Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan, has loudly declared that both Israel’s invasion opportunism and the presence of the terrorist organization PKK in Syria will not be allowed.
The next step will be for Türkiye to take action, first through diplomacy and then, if necessary, on the ground, as it has always done in its foreign policy approach, which is now an example to the world.
And all actors, including the US, now know much better that Türkiye has this power and determination.
Graphic by The Intercept.